


Countdown

by A Magiluna Stormwriter (ariestess)



Series: Strength to Try [2]
Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Community: oldschoolfic, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-07
Updated: 2011-02-07
Packaged: 2017-10-23 08:26:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/248242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariestess/pseuds/A%20Magiluna%20Stormwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been six months since Susan saw Talia.  Will she ever get Talia back from Control's grasp?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Countdown

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/gifts).



> Date: 31 January 2011  
> Written for: [](http://oldschoolfic.livejournal.com/profile)[**oldschoolfic**](http://oldschoolfic.livejournal.com/) 2011  
>  Recipient: [](http://merfilly.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**merfilly**](http://merfilly.dreamwidth.org/)  
>  Prompt: The calm before the storm  
> Summary: It's been six months since Susan saw Talia. Will she ever get Talia back from Control's grasp?  
> Sequel: Takes place after [Hope](http://ariestess.livejournal.com/986355.html), but before [30 Minutes](http://ariestess.livejournal.com/1020428.html), [Hold On Tight](http://ariestess.livejournal.com/1339989.html), the Love and Nightmares Triptych: [Storge](http://ariestess.livejournal.com/1364983.html), [Agape](http://ariestess.livejournal.com/1365090.html), [Eros](http://ariestess.livejournal.com/1365357.html), and [Candlelight Confessions](http://ariestess.livejournal.com/1373868.html)  
> Spoilers: This AU takes place approximately 2 ½ years after Control was discovered. And consider the whole Susan/Talia storyline up for grabs…  
> Warning: Established lesbian couple. Don't like it? Don't read it.
> 
> Disclaimer: “Babylon 5,” the characters and situations depicted are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Productions, Warner Brothers, etc. They are borrowed without permission, but without the intent of infringement. This story is in no way affiliated with "Babylon 5,” J. Michael Straczynski, the production companies, or any representatives of the actors.
> 
> Author's Notes: I'd planned on a couple of other options for this prompt. All of them within this same AU [which really needs a name now, doesn't it?], but at the last minute, my muses changed their minds and gave me this instead of anything else I could have written.
> 
> Author's Notes 2: Any text in _~italics~_ is telepathic speech.
> 
> Dedication: my muses, as always…
> 
> Beta: [](http://shatterpath.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**shatterpath**](http://shatterpath.dreamwidth.org/)

_~Susan?~_

"Just five more minutes?" I mumble, rolling over onto my stomach, left arm stretching out toward the other side of the bed. My hand is met with only cold sheets. "Come on back to bed. The alarm hasn't even gone off yet."

 _~Come on, Susan, time to talk.~_

Realizing that you're waking up from a very lovely dream by a voice in your head is quite possibly the strangest sensation a person could ever feel. Especially when that voice doesn't belong to the person so prominently featured in my dream. If I live a hundred lifetimes, I don't know that I'll ever get used to it.

 _~It'll get easier with time, Susan. Trust me.~_

Scowling, I shift to sit up and pull the covers up to my chin. "This is insanity," I grumble, then realize that he's not going to hear me from wherever it is that Control has him and Talia.

 _~I never expected to be woken up from a deep sleep by someone like you. You're not exactly my dream date, Ironheart.~_

 _~Will it make you feel better to know she feels the same way?~_

The knowing chuckle echoing underneath his words is annoying as hell. I just want this to be over with, one way or another. And I want to get some sleep again.

 _~What will make me feel better is having this whole fiasco over with.~_

 _~That's what we all want, Susan. But let's just get on with it, and I'll leave you to your lovely dream.~_

Smug bastard better be glad he's dead -- or whatever state it is that he's currently in -- or he'd be getting killed the next time I see him. Whenever that's supposed to be. This waiting, this not knowing, is going to be the death of me.

 _~Tomorrow, Susan. Nineteen hundred hours in your quarters.~_

My mouth goes dry; my heart starts to trip hammer in my chest as if it's trying to escape.

 _~Are you sure? This isn't some kind of joke, is it?~_

 _~Do you really think I'd be that much of a bastard, Susan? We want this over just as much as you do, probably more.~_

*****

After a conversation like that, sleep is useless. Sleep would be bliss right now, but I can't guarantee that I'll even be able to fall asleep in the first place. I would consider downing some vodka to help me sleep, but I'll never sober up in time for my shift in -- I squint at the clock for confirmation -- less than four hours. The last thing I need is to go through the rest of this damned day hung over. It wouldn't be fair to Talia and Ironheart.

Sitting here, in the dark silence of my bedroom, I swear my heart is beating so loudly that John can probably hear it in his quarters. In less than a day, everything will be decided. I either get back the woman I love, or I commit cold blooded murder. And it all rests on Jason Ironheart sending me the equivalent of the Control test that Lyta fought so hard to try on me almost three years ago.

Just the memory of that fateful day clenches my guts into tighter knots than you can tie with the thinnest strands of silk known to man. There's a part of me that wants to say that I can't decide which was worse: having Lyta test me or watching her fateful test of Talia. But I know damned well that watching Control snap into raging, vengeful control over Talia was the hardest thing I've ever had to endure since my mother's death.

Shaking my head, I wrestle that memory back behind the heavily locked door in my mind, back where it belongs. Lack of sleep is one thing to deal with, a surly mood due to painful memories is entirely different. I don't need the additional strain on my mind, not when I'll be counting down the minutes -- hell, the seconds -- until I see Talia face to face again.

"Oh god, _please_ let it be Talia that comes to my quarters," I murmur, wishing more fervently than anything that this prayer is answered. "If it's not, I'll kill her, I swear I will."

The thought suddenly dawns on me that I need a contingency plan. If Talia and Ironheart aren't successful, Control is going to be one pissed off bitch making her way to my quarters at nineteen hundred hours. She'll know everything and obviously she'll tell Psi Corps exactly what's been going on for the last six months. Including my involvement… and my latent telepathy. Control and Psi Corps won't stop until they have me on their lab table to experiment on. If it's not Talia…

Suddenly galvanized by the realization of what I need to do, I'm on my feet and looking for pen and paper. It takes far less time than I expect to draft the letter to John. For a brief moment, I consider writing something similar for Garibaldi, for Stephen. In the end, I just can't. If things don't go as planned, John will make sure they know what's happened.

A sudden wave of vertigo overwhelms me, and I can almost swear I smell Talia's perfume. Shaking my head, I make my way back into my bedroom. There has been enough time spent on that letter that the bedding is cold, and I can't help but shiver. Whether that shiver is solely due to be cold or some combination of cold and bone deep dread, I just can't say. Thankfully, the sheets warm up soon enough, allowing me the opportunity to curl into a tight ball under their relative warmth.

Sleep overtakes me far sooner than expected, and my last conscious thought before exhaustion claims me is to wonder if Ironheart has had a hand in getting me to rest. Given his considerable talents, I can't put it past him; and he would never admit to it, even if I asked him.

This is what happens when I get involved with telepaths…


End file.
